If you are a marketing manager of any hardware device, you need to pay attention. If you’re looking to achieve any kind of success in any kind of field involving marketing, you have to realize that one of the most effective techniques is a simple case of monkey see, monkey do. That’s right—there’s a lot to be said about paying attention to what the biggest player in your field is doing and copying certain elements of their strategy.
Keep in mind that I’m not advocating copying for copying sake. You shouldn’t view this as a simple case of idea theft. Instead, pay attention to the principles that they follow, and you would notice that a lot of these principles and elements may apply to your particular case. Simply copying on a wholesale basis somebody’s strategy is often a recipe for disaster. Instead, by paying attention to the principles that they apply, you can tweak these principles to form a solid strategy that can produce the kind of results you are looking for. The secret here of course is tweaking to your specific set of circumstances.
When it comes to marketing, Apple really offers a treasure trove of winning principles. First, it has a cult following. There are tons of Apple fan boys the world over. These people would automatically buy anything that has an Apple logo. This is an installed base of ready buyers.
To get to this stage of course, Apple has to produce quality products. Also, it had to develop a cult of personality around Steve Jobs. When people look at the Apple logo, they see something cool and innovative. They see something that sets them apart from everybody else. There’s this status symbol element to the Apple logo.
Once you’ve established that cult in your niche, the next step is to turn your cult members into your evangelizers. Apple is able to do this successfully with its product rollouts. They make a big deal of Steve Jobs and now Tim Cook doing a live presentation of new product releases.
Third, Apple cultivates media allies who play up the anticipation. They also play up the cool factor of the product.
The good news is that these marketing approaches are not unique to Apple. They can be applied to a wide variety of products in all sorts of industries. This is the secret. The secret is that it is no secret. It’s open and in plain view. It all boils down to execution.